Let’s reveal the magic of harmony singing in this workshop… we will dissect a simple song, learn how to use our ear to find the harmonies, and sing while staying in our lane. All singers welcome!

Squirrel Butter, husband and wife duo of Charlie Beck & Charmaine Slaven, started performing together after meeting at a music festival in 2005. Sharing a deep love of traditional music, they explore the genres of old-time, early bluegrass, blues, country, & cajun while adding their unique perspective to these traditions and threading these influences into their original compositions. Multi-instrumentalists, they play banjo, guitar, fiddle, steel guitar, step-dance, and sing in harmony. Occasionally, Squirrel Butter appears with guest musicians to form a trio or quartet. Currently both members of honky tonk project, The Lucky Shots, and were also half of venerable string band, The Tallboys. They are anchors of the old-time music, honky-tonk, & square dance communities in the Pacific NW and beyond.

1:00-3:00 How to Call a Square Dance with Susan Michaels

Learn how to call squares for your friends and family. Beginners welcome. Or just show up and get your dancing shoes on.

Susan Michaels is a teacher and a caller of traditional American dancing, especially contra dancing and square dancing. She has called and taught dances at local evenings, weekend workshops, week-long elementary school programs, week-long family camps and dance weekends throughout the U.S. and Canada.

3:00-4:00 Clawhammer Banjo with Charlie Beck

Playing clawhammer banjo is a real joy, and through some great, old songs we’ll take a peek at the banjo’s many plucky possibilities. I’ll start with some foundational banjo techniques, and then cover their many uses and variations. There will be an emphasis on creating solid grooves, and we’ll examine interplay between the banjoist, singer and other potential instrumentalists. All experience levels welcome. We’re gonna have fun and learn stuff too, so bring your banjo, any banjo questions you may have and your voice!!

Born and raised in Indiana, Charlie Beck moved to Seattle and became a founding member and banjoist of the The Tallboys String Band. He currently performs in the duo, Squirrel Butter, with his wife, Charmaine Slaven, and in their 5 piece country band, The Lucky Shots. An avid songwriter, he has recorded three albums of original and traditional music and other songs of his are featured on many Tallboys and Squirrel Butter albums. On banjo Charlie plays clawhammer and finger styles, displaying a deft touch and a propensity for creative explorations within the music. His love of old-time, bluegrass, country, blues and swing is evident while he happily offers his own voice to the music. He is also a talented singer, guitarist, fiddler, lap/pedal steel player and teacher.

4:00-6:00 Flatfooting with Evie Ladin and Ruth Alpert

Danced to the fiddle & banjo of Old-Time music, flatfooting is the percussive dance tradition that lights the fire under the music. In this workshop, we will learn a few basic steps that get you to dancing to stringband music, as well as during square dances. It’s a rhythmic good time! No experience or special shoes necessary, though hard soled shoes might be more fun to dance in. We’ll pepper the teaching with some basic Hambone, African-American body percussion from the slave era and talk about where and how it all evolved.

Ruth Alpert has been flatfooting for 34 years. She has taught workshops, danced with old-time Appalachian string bands, busked (street performed) in various cities in at least 6 states, and is a two time National Champion in Senior Buck Dancing, 2013 and 2014. Currently, Ruth is the percussion section of The Honeysuckle Possums, an all-female string band playing original and traditional music.

Evie has always been surrounded by music – credit to her upbringing as daughter of an international folk dance teacher, and an old-time folk music devotee, she grew up thinking that playing music, dancing, singing with others was what people do. Though entrenched in the traditional cultural arts of Appalachia, her home was in Northern New Jersey, New York City, Baltimore – in cities, not mountains. But the tradition bearers came through these towns, and stayed in her house. They played in her living room, and weekends were spent running free at music festivals and house parties.

This will be a workshop to play music, not to watch. All instruments welcome. Paul will go through tunes phrase by phrase for melody makers on fiddle or mandolin, while Emily will play the chords on guitar. We provide our own style of chord charts for everyone. We’ll teach a march, a shotis, and mazurka – time permitting – and get everyone on board the train.

Paul Rangell and Emily Abbink play traditional music from the old country and the new world. They specialize in tunes from Italy, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Carribean that feature angular and distinctive rhythms like tangos, mazurkas, shotis, boleros, tarantellas, pasodobles and marches. They are founding members of Bayou Seco (New Mexico) and performed for seven years with El Teatro Campesino (San Juan Bautista, CA) in theatrical productions. At home in Santa Cruz, California, they collaborate with several notorious musicians in maintaining three weekly public gigs where people are eating and drinking. Together they have forged a large repertoire and recorded two CDs Tuesday Nights (2012) and Noche Azul (2014). In 2015, they enjoyed a seven-week music residency in Venice, Italy allowing contact with traditional musicians in the mountains of Northern Italy.

In this workshop we will learn a couple of happy tunes in the key of C.

Then we’ll saw away until we are Happy!

2:00-3:00 Old-Time Ukulele with Jere Canote

What’s that persistent strumming sound heard at every jam these days. It’s the sound of the old-time ukulele! We’ll learn the basic chords in the fiddle keys of C, G, D, and A. Explore right hand strumming techniques, like the Freight Train rhythm. And cover what it takes to back up fiddle tunes and old time songs on the curvy little uke. Bring a working uke or banjo-uke tuned gCEA.

Greg and Jere Canote are identical twins whose music is all about having a good time. They do, you will. It’s steeped in vintage Americana — forgotten fiddle tunes, swing classics, and quirky novelty songs — but with their own twists (and a few of their brilliant original takes on the world around us). They’re fabulous musicians, moving effortlessly among fiddle, guitar, banjo, ukulele, and various hybrids, and their genetically-matched voices recall brother duets from the Blue Sky Boys to the Everlys.

3:00-4:00 Old-Time Song Backup Guitar with Chris Berry

If you know your basic guitar chords this workshop is for you. We’ll go over several different backup styles for old-time songs as used on classic recordings from the days of the 78. Some of the styles we’ll look at: the fingerpicking of Roy Harvey with Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, the powerful gospel guitar of Alfred Karnes and the basic flat-picking of Jimmie Rodgers. Bring a regular pick and a thumb-pick if you have one, and something to record the workshop!

Chris Berry has been playing country blues and old-time country music on guitar and banjo for over 25 years. He plays guitar and sings in Sausage Grinder, the Los Angeles area’s premier jug band, appearing on the Grinders’ debut CD Delicious Moments, and on the new album Big Fancy from fiddler David Bragger.

Chris especially loves those rarely documented areas where blues and old-time overlap, and learned many tunes and a lot about music generally from the late legendary Illinois/Southern California fiddler Mel Durham. Chris has taught guitar and banjo and played at many festivals including the Portland Old-Time Music Gathering, the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest, the Goleta Old-Time Fiddlers Convention and the Old-Time Social.

4:00-5:00 Old-Time Fiddle Tunes and Bowing with David Bragger

This workshop is for all levels! The objective is to get the fiddler playing some incredible tunes with a focus on rhythm and interchangeable variations. I’ll be drawing from a vast repertoire of Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina fiddle tunes that are rhythmic and easy to grasp. As always, my workshops emphasize the key ingredient to old-time fiddle: Bowing!! All workshop attendees will receive audio files of the tunes with phrase by phrase instruction. Please email davidbragger@gmail.com for registration and questions.

David Bragger plays banjo, fiddle and mandolin in the old-time stringband Sausage Grinder and in several local dance bands. David teaches old-time fiddle, banjo and mandolin to students of all ages and levels. He is also the host of the Old Time Tiki Parlour (oldtimetikiparlour.com) which produces concerts, workshops, CDs and films by the best old-time musicians alive, including Kirk Sutphin, Dan Gellert, Bruce Molsky, Paul Brown, Bob Carlin, Eric & Suzy Thompson, Mike Compton, Joe Newberry, Scott Prouty, etc. David is in high demand as a fiddle teacher at festivals and has private students in four continents! He is renowned for his ability to break down tunes and bowing with ease and clarity.

5:00-6:00 Fiddle Tunes in Two Keys with Earl White and Adrienne Davis- This class will explore a few of the many tunes that are in two keys that are great for both contra and square dances. Class will focus on bowing technique for that old-time sound, and the guitar’s role with lead in/ lead out bass runs. Should be fun.

Earl White and Adrienne Davis are a dynamic duo who have been icons in the old-time music and dance community for more than a decade. Earl’s energetic fiddle style upholds the Appalachian tradition while adding his trance like sound and distinct bowing. He is well known for his extensive repertoire of traditional american fiddle tunes and songs. Adrienne’s steadfast hand on the guitar completes their sound as she drives the bass notes and lays down rhythm. As a duet they perform concerts and instruct at many camps throughout the US.

This will be a workshop to play music, not to watch. Paul will go through tunes phrase by phrase for melody makers on fiddle or mandolin, while Emily will play the chords on guitar. We have our own style of chord charts for everyone. We’ll teach a tarantella and a mazurka. We will introduce a few tunes from our recent visit to the Caffaro Valley in Northern Italy, where we collected tunes from a fiddle band playing for the village dancers. If time permits, we may share a video of the dancers and musicians in action.

Paul Rangell and Emily Abbink play traditional music from the old country and the new world. They specialize in tunes from Italy, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Carribean that feature angular and distinctive rhythms like tangos, mazurkas, shotis, boleros, tarantellas, pasodobles and marches. They are founding members of Bayou Seco (New Mexico) and performed for seven years with El Teatro Campesino (San Juan Bautista, CA) in theatrical productions. At home in Santa Cruz, California, they collaborate with several notorious musicians in maintaining three weekly public gigs where people are eating and drinking. Together they have forged a large repertoire and recorded two CDs Tuesday Nights (2012) and Noche Azul (2014). This year, a six-week music residency in Venice, Italy allowed contact with traditional musicians in the mountains of Northern Italy.

Travis and Trevor Stuart:

Fiddle/Banjo Duets

This workshop will focus on the repertoire of WNC tunes, waltzes, and the dynamic interplay of these two instruments in a duet setting. Through demonstrations of tunes and techniques, the brothers share helpful tips on: playing together as a duo, matching rhythms, and the role of each instrument in a duo setting.

The Stuart Brothers are world renown for their masterful performances of Appalachian fiddle and banjo duets. Trevor and Travis were born and raised in Bethel , a rural farming community in Haywood County, NC — an area of magical beauty where the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains meet and once the ancient Cherokee settlement of Sonoma. These majestic ranges surrounded the young brothers with the rich musical and cultural environment of Appalachian fiddle tunes, Baptist spirituals, banjo pickers, all night square dance shindigs and poetic tale weavers.
With deep family musical roots, their great grandfather was the legendary fiddler Rev. Henry King, and great uncle the banjoist and singer Austin Stamey. The brothers learned some of the oldest regional fiddle and banjo styles from masters such as the Smathers Family, Byard Ray, Oscar “Red” Wilson, Gordon Freeman, and the Sutton family. They formed their first band in junior high and played for local clogging teams, local functions and fiddlers conventions. Since then they have toured extensively throughout the US and several foreign countries, teaching and performing at major festivals and music camps.

Charmaine Slaven

Appalachian Flatfoot Dancing:

Learn the art of accompanying Southern fiddle music with your feet! We’ll start with the basic rhythm foundation steps, and learn accent steps as we go, with an emphasis on dancing with good musicianship. All levels are encouraged to participate, as we’ll start by building a foundation of basic rhythm steps, then build upon those steps, learning how to accent melodies. Flatfooting is an excellent way to improve your rhythm as a dancer and/or musician. You’ll be learning to let your entire body “hear” the music. It’s also an excellent work-out, as you’ll be so entrenched in the music, you won’t even realize you’re working up a sweat! This class is physical, so be cautious if you suffer from back, hip, knee, ankle issues. Comfortable clothing, a full water bottle, and low-heeled leather-soled shoes appropriate for dancing are recommended. Please feel free to contact me in advance with any questions atcharmaineslaven@gmail.com

Charmaine Slaven, the guitar player of venerable Northwest bands, The Tallboys & Squirrel Butter, is well-known for her skill as a flatfoot dancer, singer, and, of course, caller extraordinaire! She has committed years of time and energy into promoting traditional square dance & old-time music around the West coast, and is a founding member of the Seattle Subversive Square Dance Society, has helped shepherd the Dare to be Square West conference, and organizes dances, jams, and concerts around Seattle, including the Tractor Tavern Square Dances, & NW Folklife Festival Square Dances.

Devin Champlin

Beginning Fingerpicking Guitar

Learn some basic finger picking patterns that are the foundation of many forms of rural blues music. We’ll cover the driving single string thumb style of greats like Mance Lipscomb, and the alternating bass style of Mississippi John Hurt and others. We’ll also go over a few embellishments that can apply to many songs. Participants should be comfortable playing and switching basic chords, open to all!

Devin Champlin plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin and more in bands like The Gallus Brothers, The Hi-O Revelers, The Crow Quill Night Owls, and Maria Muldaur’s Garden of Joy Jugband. As a guitar player he mostly sticks to the country blues and is a dynamic fingerpicker. On the fiddle and mandolin he plays for square dances, honky tonks, and is very fond of rags and blues. He is passionate about music, loves to share it, and has taught at various festivals along the West coast. When not playing, he builds and repairs guitars in Seattle, and is known to make pretty good waffles.

Beverly Smith

Old-Time Back-Up Guitar

Welcome to the wonderful world of back up guitar! This class is for new comers and experienced players as well. If you can move comfortably between A D G E and C you will have an easier time. We will be working with backing up a fiddler, finding the chords, the groove, and adding some cool embellishments. I will mostly be teaching with a flat pick so bring one along if you can. More advanced players will have the opportunity to explore a variety of bass runs and chord choices. Be prepared for fun!

An intermediate course in the art of Appalachian flatfoot dance with Ruth Alpert and Rebecca Stout. Refine your technique! This class is for folks who feel they have the basics down and are ready to move on to a higher level of difficulty. Learn the classic Tennessee Walking Step, Snake Legs and The Indian. Get in-depth advice on musical phrasing so that you are not only keeping the beat, but playing the tune with your feet!

Ruth Alpert has been flatfooting for 34 years. She has taught workshops, danced with old-time Appalachian string bands, busked (street performed) in various cities in at least 6 states, and is a two time National Champion in Senior Buck Dancing, 2013 and 2014. Currently, Ruth is the percussion section of The Honeysuckle Possums, an all-female string band playing original and traditional music.

Rebecca Stout began clogging as a child in Cordele, Georgia, as part of the community mountain-style clogging group The Dixieland Cloggers. She went on to spend the next three decades developing and fine-tuning her unique “Tennessee Shuffle” style of free-form flatfoot and buck dance, inspired by friends, relations, masters and mentors throughout Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia. Today, Rebecca teaches and performs traditional Appalachian dance with a focus on dance as a percussive instrument, while encouraging students to develop their own personal style. More info at www.flatfootandfancyfree.com

David Bragger

Old-Time Fiddle Tunes and BowingThis workshop is for all levels! The objective is to get the fiddler playing some incredible tunes with a focus on rhythm and interchangeable variations. I’ll be drawing from a vast repertoire of Kentucky, West Virginia and Louisiana fiddle tunes that are rhythmic and easy to grasp. As always, my workshops emphasize the key ingredient to old-time fiddle: bowing!! All workshop attendees will receive audio files of the tunes with phrase by phrase instruction. Please email davidbragger@yahoo.com for registration and questions.

David Bragger plays banjo, fiddle and mandolin in the old-time stringboard Sausage Grinder and in several local dance bands. David teaches old-time fiddle, banjo and mandolin to students of all ages and levels. He is also the host of the Old Time Tiki Parlour (oldtimetikiparlour.com) which produces concerts, workshops and films by the best old-time musicians alive, including Kirk Sutphin, Dan Gellert, Bruce Molsky, Bob Carlin, Eric & Suzy Thompson, Bertram Levy, etc. His students have won awards at festivals from Topanga Fiddle Banjo Festival to Galax, Virginia. Most importantly, he shows you how to have a foot-stomping good time!

Susan Michaels

How to Call a Square Dance

Learn how to call squares for your friends and family. Beginners welcome. Or just show up and get your dancing shoes on.

Susan Michaels is a teacher and a caller of traditional American dancing, especially contra dancing and square dancing. She has called and taught dances at local evenings, weekend workshops, week-long elementary school programs, week-long family camps and dance weekends throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Kelly Marie Martin and Sabra Guzman

Harmony Singing

Grabbing from early Country Music groups such as the Carter Family, E.C. & Orna Ball and the Delmore Brothers, we will work on how to best find the harmonies that fit for not only this genre of music but also for your voice and your singing partner. We will look at how harmony and melodies can best compliment each other by listening to and learning songs that are in the American Folk Canon. No experience necessary, just a desire to sing!

Kelly Marie Martin sings and plays guitar in Triple Chicken Foot and Chicken Liquor and in her yellow kitchen in Historic Filippinotown. She loves close harmony and loves to sing with Sabra whenever she’s in town.

Sabra Guzmán has been a part of Virginia since 2007, where she’s become a fully entrenched member of the burgeoning old-time & country music scene of the Appalachians and beyond. A founding member of the award winning old-time bands Old Sledge and Old Buck, Sabra is well known for her solid guitar & bass skills, her unique vocal stylings, and her captivating stage presence. She has been seen at many prestigious venues & festivals – Freight & Salvage, Pickathon, Blackpot, Club Passim, The Los Angeles Old Time Social, The Ark, Floydfest, Bristol Rhythm and Roots – and received a coveted first place Traditional Old Time band at the Clifftop Appalachian Stringband Festival.Sabra brings a musicianship and her unique approach to all projects, regardless of genre or instrumentation.

SATURDAY, MAY 17th
All day from 12pm – 6pm.

DOWNSTAIRS ::

• 12:00 – 1:00 Clawhammer Banjo From the Ground Up with Steve LewisLearn the basics of this popular banjo style and put them to use on a couple of great tunes! No experience necessary. Bring your banjo and start having fun!

Steve Lewis discovered the banjo and old-time music the same year he began his teaching career. Since that time he has been a regular performer, instructor, workshop leader and contestant at festivals and fiddler¹s conventions from San Diego to San Francisco. Steve began playing for contradances in 1989. He currently produces and plays for the 4th Saturday dance in South Pasadena. He also leads the 1st-Sunday Oldtime Jam at the Viva Fresh restaurant in Burbank (11:00 – 2:00 pm). Although he plays in several local bands, makes banjos in his ³spare time² and does little else, Steve denies any banjo obsession.

• 1:00 – 2:00 — Fiddle & Banjo Duets Workshop with Brian Vollmer & Ben TownsendBrian Vollmer & Ben Townsend present mountain styles of playing fiddle & banjo. The workshop will examine fiddle tunes with banjo accompaniment.Ben Townsend, of Romney, WV was introduced to the world of old-time music by Paul Roomsburg of Hampshire County West Virginia. Since learning the basics, he has studied with Riley Baugus, Ron Mullennax and Paul Brown. He was awarded a Scholarship from the Augusta Heritage Center to further his studies on the fiddle with Dave Bing of Roane County WV. As a member of both The Fox Hunt and Old Sledge, Ben has traveled across the country and around the world spreading his take on West Virginia old-time music and has shared the stage with acts varying from Ralph Stanley to the Henry Girls of County Donegal Ireland to the Taiko drummers of Yamagata Prefecture, Japan.

Brian’s musical background started with his family. Born into parents who loved, listened and played Bluegrass and Old-Timey music, he went everywhere from festivals, shows, and “pickin’ parties” with them as a toddler, a youth, and eventually he picked up a banjo and started to perform in his father’s Bluegrass band (on the side of his punk band) when he was 14. His early banjo work (both 3-Finger and Clawhammer) was based on a week long study with extraordinary banjoists Reed Martin and Bill Keith at the same music camp. He practiced all the time back at his parent’s home in the thick woods off the Patuxent River in Howard County near Skaggsville, MD in a community known as Holiday Hills…

• 2:00 – 3:00 — Fiddle Chording or, How to Play Tunes You’ve Never Heard with Tricia Spencer & Howard Rains
Tricia Spencer will teach her technique for chording fiddle tunes, an ideal method for learning tunes on the fly. Fiddle chording also allows a fiddler to focus on bowing rather than those pesky notes and opens up a new way to play old time music in jam settings. Howard Rains will provide guitar accompaniment and humorous commentary.

Spencer & Rains play old time fiddle tunes and sing old songs in the style of their home states while also exploring other American regional styles of fiddling. Both multi-instrumentalists deeply absorbed in traditional music, Howard and Tricia preserve, present, and teach old time music while at the same time making it their own. Not only do they love to play dances, festivals, and house concerts, Spencer & Rains are highly sought after as instructors and love to teach old time music at camps, workshops, and private lessons. Have a look and a listen and enjoy!

• 3:00 – 4:00 — Old Time Crooked Fiddle Tunes and Bowing with David BraggerThis workshop is for all levels! The objective is to get the fiddler playing some incredible, crooked tunes that will rock any jam session. I’ll be drawing from a vast repertoire of Kentucky and West Virginia fiddle tunes that are crooked, rhythmic and easy to grasp. As always, my workshops emphasize the key ingredient to old time fiddle: bowing!! All workshop attendees will receive audio files of the tunes with phrase by phrase instruction. Please email davidbragger@yahoo.com for registration and questions.

David Bragger plays banjo, fiddle and mandolin in the old-time stringboard Sausage Grinder and in several local dance bands. David teaches old-time fiddle, banjo and mandolin to students of all ages and levels. He is also the host of the Old Time Tiki Parlour which showcases concerts and workshops by the best old time musicians alive, including Kirk Sutphin, Dan Gellert, Bruce Molsky, Bob Carlin, Bertram Levy, etc. His students have won awards at festivals from Topanga Fiddle Banjo Festival to Galax, Virginia. Most importantly, he shows you how to have a foot-stomping ruckus of a good time!

• 4:00 – 5:00 — Italian and Mexican Mandolin Styles with Paul Rangell
Paul Rangell will introduce a selection of Italian and Mexican tunes on mandolin. Emphasis will be on learning the simple melodic lines, then gaining strength with support from adjacent strings and chords. Guitarists are encouraged to join this workshop too, as we will cover the guitar chord back-up through the nimble fingers and delightful rhythm guitar playing of Emily Abbink.

Paul Rangell has been playing guitar and pursuing traditional music since a boy in the 1960s. He plays guitar in several bands, focussing on rhythmic accompaniment to fiddle music of many lands. He also plays mandolin, violin, tenor banjo and guitarron in various configurations. Locally, you can hear him every Sunday morning at the Buttery Cafe with his family band, The Rhythm Rangellers, with The Percolators, with Adam Rose, and with Irene Herrmann in groups that specialize in selective instrumental repertoire. He is a regular at the Farmer’s Markets and plays Italian and Mexican mandolin tunes every Tuesday night at La Posta (Seabright) with his wife, Emily Abbink. He loves old-time American songs, Brother Duets, early country, Western Swing, and classic Mexican songs. He has taught many summers at The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes (Port Townsend, WA) and Lark in the Morning (Mendocino, CA) as well as private lessons for several years on guitar, mandolin and fiddle.

• 5:00 – 6:00 — Carter Family Guitar with Chris BerryMother Maybelle Carter was one of the most influential old-time and early country guitar players. We’ll start with the “Carter Scratch” and move on to a few classic Carter Family songs and some techniques for picking up tunes on your own. Audio and video recorders welcome and encouraged. Bring a thumb pick and/or flat pick; I’ll be teaching Maybelle’s thumb-and-finger style but the technique is easily adaptable to flatpicking. (Beginners: if you can play a song in C or G then you know enough to get something out of this workshop.)

Chris Berry, a native of Long Beach, California, has been playing country blues and old-time country music on guitar and banjo for over 20 years. He learned many tunes from the late legendary Illinois/Southern California fiddler Mel Durham and plays banjo on his CD “Skillet Fork.” He has taught and played at many Los Angeles-area festivals including the California Traditional Music Society’s Summer Solstice and Equinox Festivals, the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest, and the Goleta Old-Time Fiddlers Convention. When Chris isn’t busy playing old music, watching ’60s British television or ’70s American game shows, he works as an editor and web designer.

UPSTAIRS ::

• 1:00 – 2:00 — Flatfooting with Ruth Alpert
Flatfooting is the traditional, solo percussive foot dance that goes along with Southern Appalachian Mountain Music. Your feet are a rhythm instrument, keeping the beat for the musicians with much room for personal expression and style. No previous dance experience is necessary. It’s easy and fun and very aerobic! We’ll start with basics, and add on for those who would like more complexity.

Please bring shoes that can slide, but that you won’t slide out of…. leather soles with a chunky heel, or worn out sneakers, etc. Cowboy boots or shoes with a narrow heel might thrust your weight too far forward onto the ball of your foot. If in doubt, bring a selection and see which work best!

Ruth Alpert has been flatfooting for 37 years. She has taught workshops, danced with old-time Appalachian string bands, busked (street performed) in various cities in at least 6 states. She currently is the percussion section of The Honeysuckle Possums, a local Santa Barbara all female Americana band.

•2:00 – 4:00 — How to Call a Square Dance with Susan MichaelsLearn how to call squares for your friends and family. Beginners welcome. Or just show up and get your dancing shoes on.

Susan Michaels is a teacher and a caller of traditional American dancing, especially contra dancing and square dancing. She has called and taught dances at local evenings, weekend workshops, week-long elementary school programs, week-long family camps and dance weekends throughout the U.S. and Canada.

• 4:00 – 5:00 — Flatfooting 101 with Rebecca StoutStraight from the mountains of Appalachia this beginner friendly class introduces the student to the funny stories, history, culture, styles, steps and all-out fun of Appalachian percussive step dance. There will be demonstrations, practice sessions, questions, and music for all to enjoy. No partner or dance experience necessary! The student learns the Soldier’s March, Jimmy, Mitchell, Bowman, Leaf Shuffle, Zig Zags, Chugs, Nashville, Coleman and Buck Step and more. 2hrs.

While no special shoes are required, Rebecca recommends a shoe with a hard, slick sole, such as a man’s business shoe, penny-loafers, cowboy boots, granny-boots, oxfords or simple slippers. Flip-flops, sandals and crocs are not recommended.

Rebecca began clogging as a child in Cordele, Georgia, as part of the precision dance team The Dixieland Cloggers. She went on to spend the next three decades developing and fine-tuning her unique “Tennessee Shuffle” style of free-form flatfoot, inspired by friends, relations, masters and mentors throughout Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia. Today, Rebecca teaches traditional Appalachian Flatfoot focusing on dance as a percussive instrument.